The Portrait of a Lady

The Portrait of a Lady

by

Henry James

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An American expatriate and art collector who lives in Paris. Having known Isabel Archer as a child, they reconnect while Isabel is traveling Europe and remain good friends. Rosier is an unassuming and good-natured individual who falls in love with Pansy Osmond. She returns his feelings and Isabel approves of this love match. However, Pansy’s father Gilbert Osmond does not, judging that Rosier is not wealthy or connected enough to be a favorable suitor for his daughter.

Edward Rosier Quotes in The Portrait of a Lady

The The Portrait of a Lady quotes below are all either spoken by Edward Rosier or refer to Edward Rosier. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Female Independence vs. Marriage Theme Icon
).
Chapter 36 Quotes

The object of Mr. Rosier’s well-regulated affection dwelt in a high house in the very heart of Rome; a dark and massive structure overlooking a sunny piazzetta in the neighbourhood of the Farnese Palace. In a palace, too, little Pansy lived—a palace by Roman measure, but a dungeon to poor Rosier’s apprehensive mind. It seemed to him of evil omen that the young lady he wished to marry, and whose fastidious father he doubted of his ability to conciliate, should be immured in a kind of domestic fortress […] he could see that the proportions of the windows and even the details of the cornice had quite the grand air.

Related Characters: Isabel Archer, Gilbert Osmond, Edward Rosier, Pansy Osmond
Related Symbols: Architecture
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 363
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

He took his course to the adjoining room and met Mrs. Osmond coming out of the deep doorway. She was dressed in black velvet; she looked high and splendid, as he had said, and yet oh so radiantly gentle! […] She had lost something of that quick eagerness to which her husband had privately taken exception—she had more the air of being able to wait. Now, at all events, framed in the gilded doorway, she struck our young man as the picture of a gracious lady.

Related Characters: Isabel Archer, Edward Rosier
Related Symbols: Doorways
Page Number: 366
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 41 Quotes

“If she should marry Lord Warburton I should be very glad,” Isabel went on frankly. “He’s an excellent man. You say, however, that she only to sit perfectly still. Perhaps she won’t sit perfectly still. If she loses Mr. Rosier she may jump up!”

Osmond appeared to give no heed to this; he sat gazing at the fire. “Pansy would like to be a great lady,” he remarked in a moment with a certain tenderness of tone. “She wishes above all to please,” he added.

Related Characters: Isabel Archer (speaker), Gilbert Osmond (speaker), Edward Rosier, Pansy Osmond
Page Number: 417
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 50 Quotes

“One’s daughter should be fresh and fair; she should be innocent and gentle. With the manners of the present time she is liable to become so dusty and crumpled. Pansy’s a little dusty, a little dishevelled; she has knocked about too much. This bustling, pushing rabble that calls itself society—one should take her out of it occasionally. Convents are very quiet, very convenient, very salutary. I like to think of her there, in the old garden, under the arcade, among those tranquil virtuous women. Many of them are gentlewomen born; several of them are noble. She will have her books and her drawing, she will have her piano. I’ve made the most liberal arrangements.”

Related Characters: Gilbert Osmond (speaker), Isabel Archer, Edward Rosier, Pansy Osmond, Countess Gemini
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 524
Explanation and Analysis:
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Edward Rosier Quotes in The Portrait of a Lady

The The Portrait of a Lady quotes below are all either spoken by Edward Rosier or refer to Edward Rosier. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Female Independence vs. Marriage Theme Icon
).
Chapter 36 Quotes

The object of Mr. Rosier’s well-regulated affection dwelt in a high house in the very heart of Rome; a dark and massive structure overlooking a sunny piazzetta in the neighbourhood of the Farnese Palace. In a palace, too, little Pansy lived—a palace by Roman measure, but a dungeon to poor Rosier’s apprehensive mind. It seemed to him of evil omen that the young lady he wished to marry, and whose fastidious father he doubted of his ability to conciliate, should be immured in a kind of domestic fortress […] he could see that the proportions of the windows and even the details of the cornice had quite the grand air.

Related Characters: Isabel Archer, Gilbert Osmond, Edward Rosier, Pansy Osmond
Related Symbols: Architecture
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 363
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

He took his course to the adjoining room and met Mrs. Osmond coming out of the deep doorway. She was dressed in black velvet; she looked high and splendid, as he had said, and yet oh so radiantly gentle! […] She had lost something of that quick eagerness to which her husband had privately taken exception—she had more the air of being able to wait. Now, at all events, framed in the gilded doorway, she struck our young man as the picture of a gracious lady.

Related Characters: Isabel Archer, Edward Rosier
Related Symbols: Doorways
Page Number: 366
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 41 Quotes

“If she should marry Lord Warburton I should be very glad,” Isabel went on frankly. “He’s an excellent man. You say, however, that she only to sit perfectly still. Perhaps she won’t sit perfectly still. If she loses Mr. Rosier she may jump up!”

Osmond appeared to give no heed to this; he sat gazing at the fire. “Pansy would like to be a great lady,” he remarked in a moment with a certain tenderness of tone. “She wishes above all to please,” he added.

Related Characters: Isabel Archer (speaker), Gilbert Osmond (speaker), Edward Rosier, Pansy Osmond
Page Number: 417
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 50 Quotes

“One’s daughter should be fresh and fair; she should be innocent and gentle. With the manners of the present time she is liable to become so dusty and crumpled. Pansy’s a little dusty, a little dishevelled; she has knocked about too much. This bustling, pushing rabble that calls itself society—one should take her out of it occasionally. Convents are very quiet, very convenient, very salutary. I like to think of her there, in the old garden, under the arcade, among those tranquil virtuous women. Many of them are gentlewomen born; several of them are noble. She will have her books and her drawing, she will have her piano. I’ve made the most liberal arrangements.”

Related Characters: Gilbert Osmond (speaker), Isabel Archer, Edward Rosier, Pansy Osmond, Countess Gemini
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 524
Explanation and Analysis: